Bay of Pigs

The 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempted invasion by armed Cuban exiles in southwest Cuba, planned and funded by the United States, in an attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. This action accelerated a rapid deterioration in Cuban-American relations, which was further worsened by the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year.They have virtual unanimity over the Bay of Pigs and if top officials disagree, they do not express it. After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, JFK insists these two participate in every national security decision. JFK has worried after the Bay of Pigs and the Vienna summit about Khrushchev misjudging his "mettle." Ex Comm labels two possible paths "doing nothing" and "taking a diplomatic approach." For McNamara, the U.S. ought not to initiate a crisis. The JCS wants to get past the Bay of Pigs and rid the Western...